Have you read Peter Gomes’ “The Good Book”? If so, how would you respond to the argument he makes in chapter 8 regarding homosexuality? I have not read this book. I did look it up at Amazon and looked at the table of contents and a few excerpts from the book. The chapter in question […]
How does Christianity explain human death? The traditional interpretation of Genesis chapter three is that the sin of Adam and Eve led to their eventual physical death, and, presumably to eventual physical death for all human beings. ‘You must not eat fruit from the tree that is in the middle of the garden and you […]
I was wondering if you could provide me with a list of the New Testament books in chronological order. I’m trying to prepare for an upcoming discussion about the reliability of Bible texts so if you could point me in any specific direction…that would be great Do you mean chronological order of when they were […]
Would you please share some scriptures for learning respect and responsibility. For passages in the Bible on respect and responsibility, I would definitely suggest turning to the book of Proverbs. In fact almost any aspect of one’s character will be addressed in the Proverbs. Specific passages I would mention would include; Prov 1:8 Listen, my […]
I came across your email about why people do not believe in God. I am an atheist, but I do not deny a god. For me there is no God to deny. I don’t suppress any truth. I have found some truths in science. If there were indeed a God, which I cannot prove either […]
Where did Christianity originate? Christianity originated in the city of Jerusalem in present-day Israel. The founder of Christianity, Jesus Christ, was born in the small town of Bethlehem, just a few miles southwest of Jerusalem. He was raised in the town of Nazareth in the region of Galilee, about one hundred miles north of Jerusalem. […]
How would you respond to the question: can’t you use existing facts to prove any claim, in this case Christianity, but in reality any thing you wish? I would say you raise a very good and valid question. The fact is that if one chooses to suspend use of correct lines of reasoning, then one […]
Did the “disciples” get baptized again on the day of Pentecost or was Jesus baptism the same as for the forgiveness of sins? This is a fairly common question. Unfortunately, to answer the question requires speculation. The Bible simply does not answer this questions. You can assume that the answer you get to this question […]
I was just reviewing that article you wrote about people believing God isn?t real. When you try to explain how God is or isn?t real, you can’t use the Bible because the Bible is a human written book. There is absolutely no proof that any of these actions occurred, well little if any. There is […]
“Jews do not believe that Jesus was the moshiach. Assuming that he existed, and assuming that the Christian scriptures are accurate in describing him (both matters that are debatable), he simply did not fulfill the mission of the moshiach as it is described in the biblical passages cited above. Jesus did not do any of […]
I have a question for you. I was wondering if you could give me advice on helping people who argue that the Bible we have today cannot possibly be the original Bible. I obviously cannot tell them that I believe by faith that it is the inspired word of God and that He protects His […]
*Did the messianic prophecies foretell of the “second coming?” *Does God explicitly reveal to Moses the 8 day circumcision decision procedure or is it more like it was a “best practices” act that was handed down over generations and then was written down by Moses? *Do we know how long Jesus was in Egypt? There […]
Why do we have Good Friday? Why is it called Good Friday? First of all, Good Friday is a religious tradition, and its celebration as an official church holiday is not supported or encouraged by the Bible (although it is not outlawed by the Bible either). Many Christian groups do not celebrate this holiday, as […]
Note: The question is quite long. The answer is about five paragraphs down the page How does Christianity justify its staunch and abusive criticism of so called “Pagan” Religions in the light that it developed well after many other religions that were also the belief of many people before it? Too often “pagan religions have […]
In the recent movie, The Passion of Christ, there was a reference to Pilate being warned by Caesar twice not to allow any more uprisings. Is there any historical basis for this? I’m sure there was some political reason Pilate allowed a man he considered innocent to be executed. Melissa (Denver) Relatively little is known, […]
“What needs were answered by Christianity?” Please help me out. I will do something different from my usual pattern, and simply quote Bible verses in answer to your question. Romans 3:23-25 There is no difference, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified freely by his grace through […]
Do you have information on the changing of the Sabbath Day by Constantine? I have no information on this because it never happened. One of the most persistent false claims about the early history of the church is that somehow Constantine was able to change Christian doctrine of even the scriptures of the New Testament. […]
Have you noticed there are two accounts in the bible of Jesus cursing the fig tree and when Jesus drove the money changers out? In one account, Jesus drove the money changers out and then cursed the fig tree the next day. (Matthew 21:10-22). And in the other account he cursed the fig tree first […]
How do I know that Christianity is the one true faith, and that Buddhism, or Hinduism, or any other religion isn’t the "right one?" I have received a couple of questions which are pretty similar to this one. Below I have included two similar questions and the answers I gave. After these two questions/responses, I […]
What about unicorns? I have received a question about unicorns before. This question is not very specific, so I will simply copy my answer of a previous question. John Oakes In the Bible, what do the Unicorns symbolize and where in the Bible are they talked about? That is a pretty easy question. Unicorns do […]
They have taken Jesus as Lord and claim to descend from the Jews in the book of Acts. I have a friend who is into this up north and I am trying to better understand this. They seem to thrive on the tenet that because NT scripture points them back to the OT that they […]
How do you explain Christianity to a black Muslim? The extremely simple answer is that I would explain it to this person the same way I would anyone else. I would present the true Jesus, son of God, fulfiller of prophecy, worker of miracles, sacrificial lamb to take away the sins of the world. Of […]
The way I understand the compilation of the NT Canon is that the books that were accepted by the church and said to have apostolic authority, were the books put into the canon. However, this doesn’t make sense to me, because some gospels were not written by apostles… likewise we have no idea who wrote […]
Why did celibacy become mandatory for priests? Let me start by copying and pasting an answer to a similar question received previously. You will find the rest of my answer to your specific question after the following: Can you tell me when the Catholic church started insisting its priests were celibate? How celibacy became common […]
I’m writing to ask if you have any explanation for one apparent discrepancy that I have often wondered about: “three days and three nights”. I have read that the “days” part of that statement was due to the Jewish tradition of counting any part of a day as a whole day in the description of […]
I was reading the introduction of the Jerusalem?s Bible (Biblia de Jerusalem), which is translated and commented by Catholics. I don?t know if this translation exists in English. For me is the best translation for Portuguese. The problem is about the authorship and the dates of some books. The comments say that Daniel was written […]
Why dopastors still preach teach and insist on Old Testament laws when the same stand cancelled in the New Testament? Preachers teach the need for Christians to follow the Old Testament law because of bad theology. This is one of the most common false doctrines in the “Christian” world. Different religious groups teach the need […]
I am currently reading Dan Brown’s “The Da Vinci Code” and he makes a convincing claim of the possibility that Jesus was married to Mary Magdalene. Is there any possibility of truth in this? (I am a dedicated Christian, and an answer either way wouldn’t shake my convictions about following Jesus’ teachings, but I was […]
Would you please give me some information on the prophet Daniel. This is a really general question, so I am not at all sure what kind of information you may want. It so happens that I have published a book on Daniel. You will find a lot on Daniel in my book! To buy a […]
It’s been a while since I posed any questions however I’m currently reading several of your articles and in your article Biblical Prophecies Fulfilled you state the following: While the writings of John preceded the persecutions of Domitian and his successors by less than a generation, they nevertheless show the continuity of the New and […]
Who was the author of Ecclesiastes? The general consensus of conservative scholars is that King Solomon wrote Ecclesiastes. The introduction certainly implies this. It describes the author of the book as “the Teacher, son of David, king in Jerusalem.” There is only one person who we know was described in his own time as the […]
My question revolves around the true role of the Council Of Nicea. Some have argued that the council canonized certain texts to fit their purposes. I have heard the counter argument that the council merely canonized what was already widely accepted as Inspired Word, but even this wide acceptance does little to guarantee that the […]
What was the birthplace of the prophet Daniel? That is a good question! Because I wrote the book, "Daniel, Prophet to the Nations" I have had to research this question somewhat carefully. The best I can tell, the Bible gives absolutely no direct information as to the lineage of Daniel, or where he […]
I have been studying the new testament for the past 6 months and found a lot of encouragement generally throughout and it was leading me to begin to believe, though some parts of the text I found a bit troubling and not often addressed by other Christians other preachers. I even discovered some misinformation on […]
The Bible is generally used as the primary reference for Christians. Even if I accept that the Bible is actually God’s word, you have to admit that it was put on paper by humans. And since humans are imperfect, how do you put such faith in the Bible? Also, what about the books of the […]
Where in the Bible does it say that the disciples will sit at the right hand of Jesus? The answer is that the Bible says that they will NOT necessarily sit at his right hand. The relevant passage is in Matthew 20:20-23 in which James and John, "the sons of Zebedee" asked Jesus to […]
? Why was 1 John 4:1-3 written? Which people does he refer to who did not believe Jesus came in the flesh? If this was written in the first century, why would anyone not believe that he came in the flesh with so many eye-witnesses still alive? Is it because they could not understand or […]
? I know Joshepus was considered a Jewish historian or should I say a historian? Who were some others and were they different than the "writings of the fathers?" Josephus was a Jewish historian of the late first century AD. He began his career as a partisan zealot for the Jews rebelling against Rome. […]
Note: This is a very long question about Behe and Intelligent design. The question is a few pages down (look for the indented material) I study medicine, and I am in the second year this year. I am a lot interested on questions about creation/evolution. I am a Christian and take seriously me faith in […]
Note: this is a very long question. The answer is way down the page!!! Beyond the basic Christian labeling/dismissal which you demonstrate. My own reasons for doubting God’s existence are based on the very same premise I am accused of suppressing, that is truth. My chief dissatisfaction with Christianity and Christians as a whole is their […]
? By reading the Old and New Testament what can I learn? This is such a broad question it is hard to begin. Let me answer your question by making one suggestion. I would suggest that if you read both the New Testament and the Old Testament carefully, you will find that they have […]
? What happened to King Belshazzar in the book of Daniel? The book of Daniel relates that on the very night of the idolatrous feast at which the writing appeared on the wall, Belshazzar was killed and Darius the Mede took over Babylon (Daniel 5:30). It is not at all surprising that the former […]
? Every one knows the story of Noah and his ark. Some believe it, some don’t, but that is irrelevant. The Epic of Gilgamesh is the first written story ever found. This epic describes how Gilgamesh took two of each animal plus his family into an ark to avoid a world wide flood sent by […]
North vs. South: Prophecies in Daniel Chapter Eleven, by John M. Oakes The last recorded vision given to Daniel spans chapters ten through twelve. This awe-inspiring vision is both the climax and the culmination of the book. It brings together in the most overwhelming prophetic vision in the Bible all the themes of Daniel. The […]
The King Comes to Jerusalem: Prophecies of the Messiah in Daniel Chapter Nine, by John M. Oakes Chapter nine of Daniel can easily be divided into two parts. It begins with a prayer of Daniel in which he begs God, both in his own name and in the name of his fellow Israelites, for forgiveness […]
Sheep vs. Goat: Prophecies in Daniel Chapter Eight, by John M. Oakes Two years after the vision recorded in chapter seven, Daniel has another vision ?in the third year of King Belshazzar?s reign? (Daniel 8:1). The Babylonian Chronicle implies that Belshazzar began to rule as regent in 553 BC, so this year of the vision […]
A Beastly Encounter: Prophecies in Daniel Chapter Seven, by John M. Oakes ?In the first year of Belshazzar, king of Babylon, Daniel had a dream, and visions passed through his mind? (Daniel 7:1). This dream most likely occurred in the year 553 BC when Belshazzar became official regent to his father Nabonidus. This chapter begins […]
A King Eats Grass: Prophecies in Daniel Chapter Four Daniel chapter four contains a compelling account of how God was able to humble mighty King Nebuchadnezzar. When Daniel interprets Nebuchadnezzar?s dream of a great tree, he provides further proof that God promotes and demotes whomever he pleases. He shows clearly that God rules the nations. […]
A Dream in the Night: Prophecies in Daniel Chapter Two ?In the second year of his reign, Nebuchadnezzar had dreams? (Daniel 2:1). These dreams occurred early in Nebuchadnezzar?s long reign. Since Daniel was brought to Babylonin the first year of his reign, we can assume that he has entered service to the king fairly recently. He […]
My kingdom is not of this world. If it were, my servants would fight to prefvent my arrest by the Jews. But now my kingdom is from another place. John 18:36 Old Testament Prophesies announce the coming of the Kingdom of God We have already seen a number of prophecies which describe the Messiah […]
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